7. Life After Studies

Lots of people did not have much plan for life after studies. They did not know what kind of jobs are available out there. In fact, many only started looking for jobs after they graduate. However, this is not the case for the students at the LSE (and all other top schools or those schools with excellent careers service). When I first arrived at the LSE, I was overwhelmed by the atmosphere on campus. I saw lots of students went to campus wearing full business suits. They were busy attending companies' presentations and networking. To make sure we are on the same page on this post, let's first watch the following two videos.

From the videos, it is clear that Investment Banking is what most LSE high flyers (and (MBA) graduates from top schools) want to work in after they graduate but there are 2 other more.

1. Investment Banking
   Big bucks and long hours are the hallmarks of the investment banking industry. One of the main reasons that Investment Banking being the top choice is because of its notoriously high starting salary for fresh graduates. It is a perfect career for those graduates who have taken huge loans to fund their studies at top schools. If you want to know more about investment banking, please read "Investment Banking Explained"
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   Here are the list of bulge bracket investment banks (list is not comprehensive) that fresh graduates from top schools want to work for; Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Credit Suisse, UBS, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, Barclays Capital and so on.
2. Management Consulting
   Wetfeet provides a good overview of this industry. If you are interested to find more about this prestigious career, please read the following:
   http://www.wetfeet.com/Careers-and-Industries/Careers/Management-Consulting.aspx
   
   
   Here are the list of top consulting firms (list is not comprehensive) that fresh graduates from top schools want to work for: McKinsey & Co., Bain & Co., Boston Consulting Group, AT Kearney, Accenture, Monitor, Oliver Wyman, and so on.
3. Private Equity
   The following is an excerpt from a famous review magazine. It gives us a short introduction for PE industry.
   
   "Private equity firms raise funds from institutions and wealthy individuals and then invest that money in buying and selling businesses. After raising a specified amount, a fund will close to new investors; each fund is liquidated, selling all its businesses, within a preset time frame, usually no more than ten years. A firm’s track record on previous funds drives its ability to raise money for future funds. 
   
   Private equity firms accept some constraints on their use of investors’ money. A fund management contract may limit, for example, the size of any single business investment. Once money is committed, however, investors—in contrast to shareholders in a public company—have almost no control over management. Although most firms have an investor advisory council, it has far fewer powers than a public company’s board of directors. 

   
   The CEOs of the businesses in a private equity portfolio are not members of a private equity firm’s management. Instead, private equity firms exercise control over portfolio companies through their representation on the companies’ boards of directors. Typically, private equity firms ask the CEO and other top operating managers of a business in their portfolios to personally invest in it as a way to ensure their commitment and motivation. In return, the operating managers may receive large rewards linked to profits when the business is sold. In accordance with this model, operating managers in portfolio businesses usually have greater autonomy than unit managers in a public company. Although private equity firms are beginning to develop operating skills of their own and thus are now more likely to take an active role in the management of an acquired business, the traditional model in which private equity owners provide advice but don’t intervene directly in day-to-day operations still prevails. 

   
   With large buyouts, private equity funds typically charge investors a fee of about 1.5% to 2% of assets under management, plus, subject to achieving a minimum rate of return for investors, 20% of all fund profits. Fund profits are mostly realized via capital gains on the sale of portfolio businesses. 

   
   Because financing acquisitions with high levels of debt improves returns and covers private equity firms’ high management fees, buyout funds seek out acquisitions for which high debt makes sense. To ensure they can pay financing costs, they look for stable cash flows, limited capital investment requirements, at least modest future growth, and, above all, the opportunity to enhance performance in the short to medium term. 

   
   Private equity firms and the funds they manage are typically structured as private partnerships. In some countries—particularly the United States—that gives them important tax and regulatory advantages over public companies." 

   
   The top well known private equity funds are Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) and The Blackstone Group.

"So what is the point of telling us this ? These firms only recruit from top schools." Well, the point that I am trying to convey is plan what you want to do after your studies. For example, if you are pursuing UOL BSc. Accounting and Finance, and you want to be an accountant, then start doing some research regarding the industry; ACCA or ICPAS or CPA, The Big 4 Accounting Firms (KPMG, PwC, E&Y, Deloitte), when they start recruiting, what is the recruiting process like, and in case you don't get any offer from them, what are your second best options (Grant Thornton, BDO ?) 

However, if you are interested in one (or more) of those 3 industries, then stay tuned with this blog. It is possible with UOL degrees to break into those industries. How do I know? Because, I personally know 2 UOL graduates (Indonesian) who did that; one is working for Accenture and another one is with Credit Suisse. I will share with you how and what LSE students do during their term time to break into those industries. Oh yeah, if you are doing non-business or management related degrees and you are interested in Management Consulting, please don't quit. You are perfectly alright.